For three decades the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has contracted with and compensated the county to provide extra sheriff’s department patrols at designated lake sites during the summer.
The Corps is proposing to continue the partnership this year but Sheriff Patrick Ray is concerned that the number of patrols and rate of compensation has been dropping over the last couple of years.
Sheriff Ray met with the county commissioners in an All-Committees workshop on Thursday, February 19 and with the commission’s emergency services committee Monday night, March 2 to discuss the issue further.
According to Sheriff Ray, while no contract has yet been presented for approval by the commission, the Corps is proposing 219 patrol periods this year from May 4 through September 7 which includes five lake sites. The county would receive a total of $35,040 to provide the service. That is down from the 229 patrol periods in 2014 and 236 in the year 2013. The Corps rate of compensation to the county has also declined going from $37,760 in 2013 to $36,640 last year.
“The last two years we’ve lost about $2,720 because of them reducing the amount of days (patrol periods) but salaries and gas have gone up. We get $32 per place (lake site) we go to and it’s 68.5 miles from the jail to run them all and right back. So like in this year’s budget if we thought we were going to get $36,640 we’re not going to get that this year we’ll get $35,040, that’s $1600 difference,” said Sheriff Ray.
The sheriff’s department must only use full time POST certified officers to conduct the patrols during designated time periods specified by the contract.
During Monday night’s meeting the emergency services committee recommended that Sheriff Ray ask the Corps to increase the rate of compensation from $32 to $40.50 per lake site in the proposed new contract which would be $202.50 per patrol period or $44,347 for the year.
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